Detroit Pistons Close to Hiring Maurice Cheeks as Head Coach

According to multiple published reports, Maurice Cheeks is inching ever closer to becoming the new head coach in Detroit. The Pistons are expected to offer Cheeks a contract soon. Per the Detroit News: “Maurice Cheeks appears to be the next head coach of the Detroit Pistons, according to sources. Cheeks, current assistant for the Oklahoma City Thunder, looks to be the consensus choice for Pistons President Joe Dumars and owner Tom Gores. The Pistons fired Lawrence Frank at the end of this season, after a 29-win campaign and began interviewing candidates that ranged from Cheeks to Spurs assistant Mike Budenholzer to Nate McMillan in the month-plus time, as Gores has likely stated his expectation to qualify for the 2014 playoffs. Apparently, Cheeks won out in the end, as it came down to himself and McMillan, a coach Dumars long had admired, who had a similar background to Cheeks as coach and former player. Cheeks, 56, could become the fifth coach since the Pistons won the NBA championship in 2004, and third in five years. The Pistons were one of 14 coaching openings since the end of the season, with six of those teams having made the playoffs. Cheeks has a career record of 284-286 in eight seasons, starting in Portland in 2001-05 where he amassed 99 wins in his first two seasons and then in Philadelphia from 2005-09.”